LP-636

Ahmad Jamal - Volume IV

Released 1958

Recording and Session Information

September 5/6 1958, Spotlight Club, Washington D.C.
Ahmad Jamal, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Vernel Fournier, drums

9023 Ahmad's Blues
9024 It Could Happen To You
9025/9040 I Wish I Knew
9026 Autumn Leaves
9027 Stompin' at the Savoy
9028 Love for Sale
9029 Cheek to Cheek
9030 The Girl Next Door
9031 Secret Love
9032 Squatty Roo
9033 Tater Pie
9034 Taboo
9035 Autumn in New York
9036 Too Late Now
9037 A Gal in Calico
9038 That's All
9039 Should I
9041 This Can't be Love
9042 I Didn't Know What Time It Was
9043 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
9044 Seleritus
9045 So Beats My Heart For You
9046 Pavanne
9047 Ivy
9048 Let's Fall in Love
9049 My Funny Valentine
9050 Old Devil Moon
9051 Aki and Ukthay [Brother and sister]
9052 Our Delight
9053 You Don't Know What Love is

Track Listing

Taboo	E. Lecouna	September 5/6 1958
Should I	Herb Brown, Arthur Freed	September 5/6 1958
Stompin At The Savoy	Sampson, Webb, Goodman, Razaf	September 5/6 1958
The Girl Next Door	Island, Martin, Leo Feist	September 5/6 1958
I Wish I Knew	Gordon, Warren	September 5/6 1958
Cheek To Cheek	Irving Berlin	September 5/6 1958
Autumn In New York	Vernon Duke	September 5/6 1958
Secret Love	S. Fein, P. Webster	September 5/6 1958
Squatty Roo	Johnny Hodges	September 5/6 1958
That's All	Brandt, Haymas	September 5/6 1958

Liner Notes

You can skip this and start listening to the music. At that, you're one up on me, because as I write this the advance tapes haven't arrived yet...you know, the tapes of the music on this LP, that I'm supposed to listen to so I can write about it? It's all right, though. I was at the Spotlite when this session happened, so I can write Authoritative.

And so, if you're the kind of listener who can't enjoy the music until you've read the liner-notes, go ahead, but they're mostly personal opinions.

For example: an opinion by John Hammond, whose early enthusiasms for young unknown Benny Goodman, Bill Basie, and Charlie Christian did no harm to them nor to jazz. I'm always happy when I don't have to fight with John.

"Ahmad," John said on the phone, "is vastly talented. He has a fabulous technique, which he doesn't use very often. His economy — but alas, not his taste — is comparable to Basie's. (His taste gets pretty fancy sometimes.)

"And Ahmad's trio is not just Ahmad, not all piano like Erroll Garner. It's a trio. Ahmad gives the load to Israel Crosby and Vernell Fournier, and the combination of Crosby and Fournier is about the most propulsive thing in the rhythm field today. I think Vernell Fournier is just about the best drummer, outside of Jo Jones and one or two others. I first heard Vernell about seven years ago with Buster Bennett's group.

"In fact, I think Ahmad's trio didn't catch on then because he didn't use drums. He had a wonderful guitar-player in Ray Crawford. But it was too quiet. Not enough excitement for people."

There you are, Ahmad. Praise, with faint damns.

I also asked the opinion of a young lady in my office:
Q: Do you like Ahmad Jamal?
A: Oh, yes!
Q: Why?
A: He's terrific!
Q: But, why?
A: I, like the way he plays piano!
Q: Well of course. He's a piano-player.
A: No, I mean I like what he does 'way up at the right end of the piano-keys. And he looks so serious about what he's playing. I mean, he doesn't jump around and act silly about what he's doing.

Maybe the young lady and John Hammond triangulate another reason for Ahmad's fantastic new popularity, and that would be the present success of the Modern Jazz Quartet. John Lewis also looks serious about his music. And the lighter touch is there. The underplaying of Jimmy Giuffre, the understating of Miles Davis — these, with the MJQ, are a big part of today's scene; and today's audiences may be readier than they were for the Jamal subtleties. Billy Taylor's Latin excursions (Cu-Blue, etc.) may have built some response for Ahmad's Poinciana and New Rhumba. Glenn Miller proved dynamics commercial, and Erroll Garner has made it partly this way; and dynamics are an essence of the Jamal style. The Trio builds riffs, too, as the Basie band does. Finally, the "exotic" Ahmad Jamal name may or may not fascinate.

I'm not saying Ahmad's fans go through all this sloppy analyzing. They just know they like him. And they're mostly young people...which is good, because jazz and its origins are for and from young people.

We like what we like of today's music because of what we first heard and liked. I like a good big band better than almost anything, because I got to hearing records back when Charlie Barnet's Cherokee was the big new thing. (This makes me a fogey to some, an upstart to others.) Yes, those Bluebirds of the late 1930s and early '40s, the Barnets, and the black-label 10-inch Victors on which I found Mr. Barnet's prime source in Duke Ellington, they sound great to me today, too. I read Down Beat back then (still do, of course), and I was ready to hate Glenn Miller with George Frazier and to refuse to like Tommy Dorsey along with the record-store proprietor who bragged he didn't stock Dorsey discs; because, until I formed my own personal prejudices, well, you see, I had to rely on the prejudices of others.

This is why I don't seem able to write anything, these notes included, except first-person opinion. I simply can't state anything as a "law", a rule...

Because it only makes sense to me!

We were taught to hate Harry James, too, for his 'nagging" trumpet, and Guy Lombardo, for being Guy Lombardo ( but we weren't prepared to hear defenses of Lombardo, later, from Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong). Today, we of the slightly avant-garde are told to hate Elvis Presley (or Chuck Berry at Newport).

But once I sat in a bar here in Washington, to sit and read and juice a little by myself. I hadn't shaved, that was it, So I knew I wouldn't run into anyone I knew there, or rather anyone who knew me. These little hideaways exact their penalties via jukebox. I found myself tapping my feet to the sinister beat. This guy was singing while I was trying to read, and I liked his singing, but I didn't know who it was, so I looked at the panel on the jukebox, and it was old You Know Who. Elvis.

The Spotlite in Washington, D. C. (a different place) brings in the biggest names in jazz, regularly and often. And the Ahmad Jamal Trio broke the house record. You can hear it, when you listen to this LP. As Toscanini could swing The Stars and Stripes Forever, as Mulligan could stand in and swing a Salvation Army band, as Louis can swing a single note, as Basie can swing in any tempo, as Ravi Shankar and Chatur Lal can build their ancient ragas into frenzies Ravel only dreamed at, as Ray Charles can make jazz musicians rush around from backstage to sit out front and rock to his blues, as African kids can set us to swaying with their repetitious pennywhistles, as a backwoods fiddler can swing us with a hoedown, as Bach can fly us across the room — so did a newer, younger generation of Jazz fans turn out enthusiastically and in greater numbers than for any other attraction ever to play the Spotlite.

They hadn't been told Ahmad was "good" for this reason or "bad" for that one, and perhaps there are small blessings when Johnny Doesn't Read. But they didn't howl, jump, cut leather, or do the fish, either. No, they sat quietly and listened like ladies and gentlemen, and at the end of each number they roared their applause.

What's my opinion of Ahmad's music? Well, the very first time Ahmad ever played Washington was when I asked him to come here, seven or eight years ago, for one of my Howard Theater midnight concerts.

The centripetalists in the jazz audience may froth some, but my definition of jazz goes like this: Jazz is what you go to listen to when you want to go hear some jazz. I go to listen to, among others, Ahmad Jamal.

See? You could have been listening to the record all this time.

WILLIS CONOVER
Willis Conover conducts Programs of American music daily for the largest audience in world, on the Voice of America. In 1958 he was awarded both Down Beat's Spokesman of the Year and 'Metronome's Special Award of the Year.

LP-635

Ralph Sharon and Friend - 2:38 A.M

Released 1958

Recording and Session Information

June 3 1958, New York
Ralph Sharon, piano; Alan Mack, bass; Billy Exiner, drums; Candido Camero, congas

U8813 Easy to Go
U8814 Time
U8815 Ol' Man River
U8816 Friend's Blues
U8816A Blues
U8817 Garden in the Rain
U8818 I'll Never Let You Go
U8819 Teach me Tonight
U8820 How Long Has This Been Going On?
U8821 Love Me or Leave Me
U8822 Linguine, Lovers Lullaby
U8823 I Got It Bad
U8824 I Wished On The Moon

Track Listing

Blues	Ralph Sharon	June 3 1958
Ol' Man River	J. Kern, O. Hammerstein III	June 3 1958
Garden In The Rain	C. Gibbons, I. Dyrenforth	June 3 1958
Linguine Lover's Lullaby	Ralph Sharon	June 3 1958
Teach Me Tonight	Cann, DePaul	June 3 1958
Friend's Blues	Ralph Sharon	June 3 1958
How Long Has This Been Going On	G. & I. Gershwin	June 3 1958
Time	Shapiro, Lynn	June 3 1958
I'll Never Be The Same	F. Signorelli, M. Molneck, G. Kan	June 3 1958
Love Me Or Leave Me	Kahn, Donaldson	June 3 1958
Morning	Yusef Lateef	April 8 1958
Brazil	Ary Barroso	April 8 1958
Let Every Soul Say Amen	Yusef Lateef	April 8 1958
Woody'N You	Dizzy Gillespie	April 8 1958

Liner Notes

I don't know what the record people call it when they ask you to write a few notes about someone who has worked as closely with you as Ralph Sharon has with me, but I do know that he has provided me with an excellent vehicle for my own talent. It's always a pleasure to work with him and his fine group.

We were playing the Chez Paree in Chicago, when Argo Records asked Ralph to do this album for them. The night the record was cut, the club management kindly consented to let us break the last set early, so Ralph and the boys could get over to the studio. The session began at 2:38 A.M., and I think it's a good title for this album because it kind of gives you the idea of what went on. The boys were pretty relaxed by this time, and they told me later that someone had brought in a floor lamp for light — everything was real subdued. Relaxed as they were, the sounds just had to come out as fine as they did. I was surprised when I learned that they completed the session at 5:40 A.M., 3 hours ahead of schedule. This means that all the numbers were recorded in 1 or 2 takes which is pretty unusual for any recording session. But these fellows have always worked well together and they were swingin' from the start.

Ralph Sharon's music speaks for itself and there isn't much more I can say, except to name his fine group: Candido on Congo drum, Billy Exner doing wild brush work on snare and cymbals, and Allan Mack, newly arrived from England, on bass. They are all really great! Now, I wish you the same thrill hearing them as I have working with them...so listen and have a ball!

LP-634

Yusef Lateef - Lateef at Cranbrook

Released 1958

Recording and Session Information

April 8 1958, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Detroit
Yusef Lateef, tenor saxophone, flute, oboe, argol, percussion; Frank Morelli, baritone saxophone; Terry Pollard, piano; William Austin, bass, rebab; Frank Gant, drums, gong, finger cymbals

8829 Brazil
8830 Brother
8831 Shadrack
8832 Let Every Soul Say Amen
8833 Shaw 'Nuff
8834 Oscalypso
8835 Morning
8836 G.K. Blues
Woody'N You

Track Listing

Morning	Yusef Lateef	April 8 1958
Brazil	Ary Barroso	April 8 1958
Let Every Soul Say Amen	Yusef Lateef	April 8 1958
Woody'N You	Dizzy Gillespie	April 8 1958

Liner Notes

This is a record of a unique concert at Cranbrook Academy of Art on April 9, 1958. Cranbrook has been in existence since 1927 and one of the tenets of its teaching is that all arts are interrelated, especially with life. Among Cranbrook graduates have been architect Erro Saarinen; sculptor Harry Bertoia who is also known for the Diamond Chair; and inventive furniture designers Charles Ames and Florence Knoll.

The April concert marked the first time jazz was offcially presented at the school. The idea began with the students who delegated three of their number to contact Yusef. Yusef and his group visited the school, were impressed, and the concert was arranged. It was held in the right wing of the Cranbrook galleries with no admission charge. An overflow crowd of some 500 attended (Cranbrook is about 15 miles north of Detroit).

Most of the audience sat on floor mats. Around them were student paintings and rising among them were pieces of sculpture. Looking down, the scene was like a chess board from Through The Looking Glass. Visually, the interrelation of arts had taken place as if spontaneously, and the music added a further aural dimension.

The introduction to the concert was given by Wallace Mitchell who is in charge of the galleries and is Registrar of Cranbrook Academy of Art. He was the liaison between the faculty and the students in preparing the concert. The musicians were moved from the start at the receptivity of the audience and the fact that they appeared open to unexpected conceptions. They were not afflicted with what one composer has called "jazz imperatives" — preset definitions of what jazz has to be.

Yusef's group on this record has been with him some eight months at Klein's Showbar on 12th Street in Detroit where Yusef himself has been playing two and a half years. Yusef was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1920; moved to Detroit with his parents five years later. He began on alto, switched to tenor the next year, and by 1946, through an introduction by Lucky Thompson, he had joined Lucky Millinder's band. He worked with Dizzy Gillespie's band (he was then Bill Evans) in 1949. Yusef has been back in Detroit since 1930 and has been a leader since 1955. He now plays, among other instruments, tenor, flute, tambourine, gourd, and various eastern and near eastern wind instruments like the arghool.

Lithe Terry Pollard, who swings unerringly, was born in Detroit August 15, 1931. She's worked with Johnny Hill, the Emmit Slay trio, Billy Mitchell, and for several years on vibes as well as piano with Terry Gibbs. She returned to Detroit, played for a time with Sonny Stitt, but was largely inactive in music until joining Yusef about eight months ago. "After four years of nervous music," she says, "I had to get used to being relaxed with Yusef. I don't have to jump up and down all the time any more." Terry's feeling about Yusef's fusion of musical elements from other cultures with jazz is that "it's like making soup. The more things you throw in — if you know what you're doing — the better it is. Working with Yusef, you never get into a rut. We play real good funky blues; rhythms in 7/4, 5/4, and waltz times; and so many other things are also going on. And yet it's all relaxed."

Bassist William Austin was born in St. Louis on February 22, 1932. He played baritone saxophone for about four years, but taught himself bass while in the Air Force. He's worked with Barry Harris as well as Yusef and recorded with Sonny Stitt. Like Terry, he finds working with Yusef challenging because "his music has a different feel to it and there's always something else going on." With Yusef he doubles on the one-string rebab (the term generically is used for a family of string instruments, usually found in Moslem countries). It's played by harmonics, being tuned to whatever key the piece is in. Yusef describes some of its history in the introduction to Morning.

Baritone saxophonist Frank Morelli was born in Detroit, March 7, 1933. He began on alto at 14, switched to tenor, and finally took up baritone in 1953. He worked with Jimmy Palmer's orchestra out of Chicago and has been with Yusef since the beginning of the year. He feels attracted to Yusef's music because "it's soulful; always relaxed in whatever tempo it's played; and Yusef never plays any wasted notes."

Drummer Frank Gant was born in Detroit, May 26, 1931. He began on drums after high school, has been a professional since 1952, and has worked with Alvin Jackson, Barry Harris and the Terry Pollard trio. You can hear him here on a Chinese gong some 10 inches in diameter. He also plays bells and finger cymbals and earth-board although the last isn't heard in this album.

Yusef's Morning, he points out, "is a 16-bar structure; six bars based on F minor 7; 2 bars on G7; and eight on F minor 7. It came to me in the morning; I began singing it every day; and I finally wrote it down. What impresses me here is how naturally the other musicians fall into the near-eastern rhythmic and tonal feel of the piece without losing their jazz identities and swing. Yusef's reason for adding these elements is that he wearied of "playing I Got Rhythm and such things with the same sound and the same time. I want to expand the range of colors and rhythms in jazz. To do that, you naturally have to use some of the instruments — like the rebab 'and various percussion aids — from other cultures. There's no reason though why they can't blend together."

Note, incidentally, how unforcedly Terry Pollard's piano flows in the idiom of this piece. With Yusef interested in the near east; Miles Davis in scales from anywhere he can find them, including the folk scales used by Khachaturian; and Cecil Taylor in the color possibilities of Bali and India, it may well be that no music will be found immune to fusion with jazz in the years ahead. The only caution is that these elements ought not be grafted on from without, but should be balanced as an organic part of each player's or writer's individual self-expression. The basic point is there is no reason why these meetings cannot happen — as they have before in jazz history, from Jelly Roll Morton's "Spanish tinge" and beyond.

Brazil is in 5/4 time, and is another challenge Yusef sets himself and his players, not as an exercise but because he felt this rhythmic pattern best suited the feeling he wanted from this tune. The arghool is heard at the beginning. After an introduction by Yusef, the group plays Yusef's Let Every Soul Say Amen, a serene, almost impressionistic piece, although it is colored, as is characteristic of Yusef, wwith eastern textures. "It's in a free form," explains Yusef, "and every time we play it, it sounds different. It's built around A minor sixth and inversions of it."

Woody n' You> is Dizzy Gillespie's, and Yusef's version provides a loose framework for extended improvisation by all, especially Yusef, That's also Yusef in the intriguingly multi-colored polyrhythmic percussion sections scraping a kind of rams' head (it looks like an open powder horn) with a penny.

In the Cranbrook catalogue, there is this description of how an architect should function: "Architecture is a social as well as an organic art form. Since cultural activities can achieve fullest maturity only in a culturally sound environment, the architect must assume responsibility for planning such an environment. He must expand his concept of shelter to include all the form-world, from the intimacy of the room to the comprehensiveness of the metropolis. Conditioned by this basic approach, the student learns through personal research and individual expression..."

Substitute "musician" for "architect" and you'll have an idea of what motivates Yusef's approach to music.

NAT HENTOFF
Co-editor
The Jazz Review